Small Business Stress – Steps to Beat it

Small business stress is more common than you think!

To the rest of the world…John was a happy and a very successful business man. His friends respected him and admired him for the business he had created, which he seemed to run successfully. They remember when his office was his garage, and he would spend endless nights and weekends “working the business”. Fast forward ten years, John now ran his office from a snazzy office in town, he had a great team of staff, and was always on the go, meeting someone, going to some event and getting something done.

Outside, John looked “cool, calm and collected”. His staff, his wife, his customers…. Everyone was shown the “poker face” of “it’s all good, everything is on track, business is great, life is good”. John was hiding the stress of business. If he didn’t keep up the pretence… imagine what everyone would think? His regular customers could possibly steer away from him to get the job done and maybe even “jump ship…just like nervous rats leaving a sinking ship”. After all, nobody wants to deal with a business that is not successful….

On the inside, John was stressed, frazzled, panicked. These days, it was pretty normal for him to still be at the office after 8pm and working most Saturdays and Sundays. Despite his ideas to improve business, he lacked motivation to take action and follow through. He felt restless and had difficulty falling and staying asleep, and he constantly felt exhausted.

To many business owners this may seem very familiar. If not now, then at some stage most business owners experience some heightened level of anxiety/ mental stress.

Small business stress is more common than we think….

In a survey done in April 2015 by Dr Michael A Freeman MD, based on Mental stress among Entrepreneurs vs non-Entrepreneurs, it was found that; (excluding a prevalence of previous symptomatic families) 49% of Entrepreneurs reported a mental health condition compared to 32% of non-entrepreneurs….that’s 17% more! Frightening!

So, it seems pretty reasonable to deduce that Entrepreneurs suffer more depression, more despair, more hopelessness than their employee type counterparts.

This pressure can be caused by many different factors from planned or unplanned growth, changes in economic conditions, or changes in customer demands. These and more factors may cause pressured changes in the flow of money for the business…which will naturally cause more anxiety for the business owner.

How to get back on track and beat small business stress

It doesn’t have to be like this! There are things that John could do to help manage the anxiety, sleep peacefully at night, feel more “in control” to help him get back to track and get his “mojo” back.

Psychologist, Jay Anderson suggests:

Share your feelings with those close to you. This includes business partners and spouses. By keeping too much information from your wife and maintaining the pretence of “it’s all ok” can add to more unnecessary anxiety when she goes off for a 5-star high tea with her mates, which in the past may have been “normal”. Resentment may just make anxiety worse.

Have some regular reflection time. Spend some time to notice your thoughts and feelings. Writing down your worries and difficulties can help you to figure out if they are accurate and justified. Then plan for some problem-solving time.

Look after yourself: Do things you enjoy, include regular exercise, be aware of your work/life balance

Ask for help!

This may come in the form of a counsellor – to talk about managing the symptoms of your anxiety or depression and strategies to assist with sleep difficulties.

Gain a clearer picture of where the business is financially today, and set out a plan of how you can get out of it. The only clear and guaranteed way of doing this is to base your decisions on the reality of the numbers.

Contact a financial performance consultant that specialises in the area of improving SME profits and cashflow, to help you:

Analyse your business to find any money leaks, so you can act quickly and plug the holes in your bank account, before too much of your hard-earned cash drains away.

Develop a cashflow forecast for the next 6-12 months, so you can work at minimising the time span between money out (in advance purchases for stock, payment of staff) and money in (late invoicing and payment of slow paying customers).

By taking action in both the mental side of handling the anxiety and practical side of what is happening in the business, your staff and family will thank you for its longevity, steady growth and reduce your small business stress.